Saddle up for a weekend of dice and brain-eating cowpokes as the Gutshot Posse joins the trail drive to turn COMICPALOOZA into one of the biggest danged comic & game conventions in these-here parts.

Gutshot co-creator (and chief zombie-wrangler) Mike Mitchell will be on hand to run two games on Saturday, May 25, 2013 (by the way, the convention runs the whole weekend from Fri. - Sun., but the Marshal has made other plans for those days). Mitchell will be running:

Bullseye on the Gaming Room

Mitchell will be running both of his games at Table 25 in the Gaming Room.

"I am almost smack dab in the dead center of the Game Room," Mitchell said. "Which is great news for me because once I park myself there, I don't have to move (or worry about another game running too long."

To make things easier for folks hunting him down, Mitchell will have a new-fangled table banner.

"This thing is about 5-feet tall, so when it's sitting on top of the table, it should be pretty easy to find us amidst all that hubub," he said.

Saloon Showdown: It's All in the Cards

The first game out of the saddlebag is Saloon Showdown.

"SS is a card game that I've been working on for a while now," Mitchell said. "In it, the players are all working at a saloon on a rowdy Friday night and all the workers are trying to earn the most money. It's a fun game for 2-5 people and I think we're very close to publication."

The game may become Hawgleg's first Kickstarter game, due to the high cost of releasing a card game.

"We have not made any decisions about Kickstarter, yet," said Hawgleg Partner Paul "Mad Dog" Mauer. "But it seems like that may be the way to go."

The game has tested very well, particularly with women and kids.

"It's really a simple game and it combines competitive with cooperative play, which is something that really seems to click with women," Mitchell said. "We've run dozens of games and people keep coming back for more. Last year at OwlCon, after I taught the first game, the players stayed around and played four more times, and apparently had a lot of fun."

Two people even offered to buy the prototype deck.

"The goal of the Comicpalooza playtest is to confirm some minor tweaks to the rules so we can finally say that it's ready for release," Paul said. "I think we're very close. And I hope we will have this out for next year's convention season."

Gutshot: Night of the Living Deadwood

For Mitchell's second game -- and definitely the star of the evening -- he'll be pulling out his Boot Hill graveyard to host a race for the gold and a fight to the death... and beyond! Yup, it's another playtest of the long-anticipated explansion, Gutshot: Night of the Living Deadwood.

"We're getting very close to working out the last kinks in this game," Mitchell said. "The major combat rules regarding head shots seem solid and the zombie spawning rules are almost finalized."

This game -- which is actually the first Deadwood scenario that Mitchell ever ran -- includes rules for searching for buried gold... and a terrifying prize when it's unearthed.

"You always get more than you bargained for when you're messing with cursed gold," said Gutshot co-creator Mike Murphy. "And this game is no exception!"

Event Details

Name: Saloon ShowdownTime: 3 pm thru 5 pm, Sat., May 25, 2013Description:It's Friday night in Miss Kitka's Saloon, and all the usual folks are coming in for drinks, cards, and maybe to talk with a purdy lady. Can y'all keep the customers happy and earn the most money to win? Join Origins Award Winning game creator Mike Mitchell for a fun preview of his upcoming card game. We'll probably have enough time to play 2 or 3 games during this time, so feel free to mosey on by any time to see if we have an open seat. Prizes will be provided.

It's been 10 years since that shipment of Union gold went missing and there ain't been a single whisper about it... until now. In the territory prison an old timer told yuh that it was buried in a forgotten boot hill grave. Problem is, some other gents heard the same story. Now the race is on to dig it up. And all that talk about it being guarded by dead men has just gotta be crazy talk. Join the game's co-creator for a rousing battle of cowboys vs. zombies.